After Saturday's State Section 4 game against Peabody West, there's one thing you can say about the North Andover American Williamsport Little League all-stars: they don't know the meaning of the word quit.

The North Andover Americans were beaten badly by Hamilton-Wenham Friday night, a 16-1 verdict that invoked the mercy rule after four innings. But they were able to turn the page to focus on the next game, not wanting to end this tournament on a sour note. But the task was certainly daunting. They had to go up against 2-0 Peabody West, and its history of dominance throughout the past 10 years.

The local nine never wavered, and ended up pulling out a most satisfying 5-4 win after scoring four in the home half of the fifth to erase a 4-1 deficit at Tewksbury's Poulin Field.

Powered by a solo blast over the centerfield fence by Tristan Latham in the first, and a two-run shot by Kyle Moore in the fifth, the North Andover stars have a chance to redeem themselves versus aforementioned Hamilton-Wenham in the sectional title game Sunday at the same Tewksbury venue (5:30 p.m.). The winner then moves on to the state finals at Beverly's Harry Ball Field beginning Thursday.

"We were a little defeated after Friday night's game, and came out a little flat [against Peabody West]," North Andover Manager John Burke said. "But Kyle's [Moore] home run gave us the lift that we needed. This is a good group of kids. They took a beating Friday night, but they came back nicely [Saturday]. I can't give them enough credit. They beat a really good team to get to the [sectional] finals."

Moore's round tripper trimmed the deficit to one, 4-3. North Andover still needed two more to win it. Starter Angelo McCullough was then relieved by Jake Murphy, and T.J. Fredo greeted him with an infield hit to shortstop. Patrick Moran followed with a walk to keep the rally going for Mike Gorgoni, whose single tied up the proceedings at four, and Jackson Odams' base hit untied it.

It was now up to Latham, who relieved Moore on the hill in the fourth after a gallant effort to keep the score close. He whiffed four over 2.2 innings, the last two in the sixth to seal the victory in style. The veteran all-star has a win and a save in three sectional games, but he will have to do it with his bat in the title clash, because of the pitch count rules.

Hamilton-Wenham defeated 0-3 Wilmington in Saturday's nightcap, 15-5 to force a three-way tie at the top. But according to the rules, Hamilton-Wenham secures a spot in the championship game as a result of giving up the least amount of runs in three games (13), and North Andover will oppose them after knocking off Peabody West in head-to-head competition.

Page 2 of 2 - Burke knows they will have their hands full trying to beat Hamilton-Wenham for the sectional title, but the Generals manager, Dave Jones, is not taking anything for granted.

"This is an entirely different game, and we'll still have to string together hits to beat [North Andover]," Jones said. "[North Andover] just beat another good team in Peabody West, and we know they are a cohesive club with one superstar, who also know how to win games not the traditional way."